FURIOUS Towy Valley residents insist it is a miracle' no-one has been killed by gas pipeline trucks hurtling through Llandovery.

Two near-misses in the last fortnight have seen calls for juggernauts carrying heavy pipes to be diverted away from the town intensify.

Now seething townfolk claim it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured if the life-threatening traffic is not brought to a halt.

Alan Young, of 3 Dingat Close, Llandovery, knows the risks posed by the lorries more than most after his wife and a close family friend both had fortunate escapes recently.

"My wife was showered with debris from Clarence House when one of the pipes swung round and scraped along the wall of the building," he said, "leaving a long, deep gouge and possible structural damage some 12 feet above the pavement.

"Even more serious was the terrifying experience of a friend of ours whose car was a write-off some days earlier with her inside.

"Its side was ripped off after being hit by the tail end of one of the pipes."

Luckily, neither sustained serious injury. But Mr Young insists the next victim may not be so fortunate.

"Damage has already occurred with serious injury or loss of life avoided only by a miracle," he said.

"Heavy excavating machinery trundles through the town almost daily, most of it on vehicles much larger and heavier than anything our roads - even the so-called trunk road, the A40 - were designed for.

"Do they really need to be brought all the way to Llandovery by road when the line of the pipeline could surely be used instead of Carmarthenshire's inadequate roads," he asked.

Mr Young's sentiments were echoed by the chair of the town's Chamber of Commerce, Hilary Hunt, who claimed traffic in the town was constantly being brought to a standstill.

"It seems no planning has been put into this," she said.